Visions of Presence in Modern American Poetry [first edition]

Contending with the deconstructionist doctrine that it is impossible to locate any kind of "presence" external to language on which spoken and written utterances might be grounded, Scott (religious studies emeritus and English emeritus, U. of Virginia) explores the ways in which the poetic act of contemplation makes palpable the sense of "a something more." He does this by turning to "the nine figures with whom over the years I have found myself most deeply involved": Wallace Stevens, W.H. Auden, Theodore Roethke, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Penn Warren, Richard Wilbur, A.R. Ammons, James Wright, and Howard Nemerov. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.